Sunday, December 23, 2007

A little while back I was "tagged" in a meme by a few friends and a few fans (hi Guenevere!) which was deadly contagious, and cast a plague across the Fashion Planet feed. Everyone was doing it, and tagging other people to do it, and it was fun to be remembered and mentioned for it, but I declined, as it was to post "8 random facts about you". Normally I like to keep this blog solely for my actions in Second Life and the things that I create, because I have some delusions (illusions?) of professionalism. Then I realized I was taking it waaaaay too seriously, and then got talked into sharing some of the more fun, interesting facts of my RL :)~

So here goes, the much tagged Plague Meme of Nov. '07, 'cause I can:

1. I was voted "Most Unique" at my highschool, and wore nothing but black every single day from 5th Grade to 12th. I've had black and purple in my wardrobe ever since I was four and a half years old.

2. I absolutely adore beautiful, artistic tattoos and I see them as a way of celebrating your body and decorating it. However, I don't think I could ever get one, not because I'm afraid of needles or pain but because I don't think I could ever live with one design all my life without getting sick of it. So doing henna on myself and my friends is a great alternative!

3. I've been in a relationship with my fiance for almost a third of my life, we're getting married as soon as we have enough money for an appropriately gaudy ceremony.

4. My avatar and I are both very pale. In real life, I absolutely adore my incredibly fair, alabaster skin. In the summer I have to go out with an umbrella or a very wide brimmed hat, and I completely cover my body with a coat or shawl and long sleeves to avoid burning. Also like my avatar I'm tall, but not so tall as to be able to say I'm really tall. I'm a giant among midgets but a midget among models.

5. I have never once worn shorts higher than midcalf out in public since I reached puberty.

6. I've never smoked, gotten drunk, done drugs of any sort, broken any bones, had any stitches, stayed in a hospital or had a prescription medication for more than a month. I still plan on getting drunk one of these days, but I take very meticulous care of my body (even though I should work out more, such is the curse of SL!)

7. I have many extremely geeky Fandoms. To name some of my most extreme ones, I adore Firefly, Peter Jackson's LotR, Pirates of the Carribean, Heroes, and my guiltiest pleasure is America's Next Top Model. I do watch a lot of TV and movies, since my fiance likes constant background noise and I've gotten used to it too as I work. I consider myself extremely culturally geeky, I can recite Holy Grail really well and have you rotflol.

8. I was a professional clown for a good percentage of my life, and would march in the 4th of July parade with my mother and brother and anyone else we could recruit. I was also known to do face painting and balloon animals. (My specialties were giraffes, poodles, and coiling snakes, no joke).

So THERE. Obviously I'm not tagging anyone back, and I hope this didn't give you Vietnam style flashbacks.

I'm still taking downtime, and letting my creative juices replenish. Already I've been coming on more recently and doing some casual work, as well as doing some sketches for new designs. Not sure if I'm going to do anything special for SLXmas, if I do it won't be on the day itself. Happy solstice though!

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Thanks for taking the time to read through this, hopefully I will have your answer here. If not, feel free to IM me!

Do you take commissions?I'm open to them, but at my discretion. I charge a "real world" rate of $25USD an hour, but if the item fits with my brand and I feel I can sell it in my store I'm negotiable on that. If that number is daunting, I am always open to suggestions or to new ideas for my next item. I'm willing to do modifications, such as removing or swapping details with other masks or doing retextures. Simple color adjustments or outfit matching are offered free of charge, all you need do is ask.I'd like to blog/publish/represent your items! What's your policy?I go on a case by case basis, but generally for blogs I ask that you purchase my items. I'm willing to submit review copies in some cases, such as if your blog actually talks in detail about the items featured, has a professional presentation, and is enlisted on some feeds.

Could I buy your items in bulk for my event?

Absolutely! If you're interested in different masks or a combination of them, please contact me with which and how many you will need, and I'll get back to you with a price quote.Are you interested in renting a store at my sim/land?

No, I'm afraid not. Unless your land has a specific theme that my items perfectly fit, please don't send me any invitations. I currently only have satellite stores at locations that have given me that space for free.

I'm interested in getting into 3D modeling for SL. What do you use to model?

I use a professional modeling program called Zbrush. It's perfect for my needs, but obviously not everyone has the resources or the drive to spend that sort of money on something they only want to experiment with. There are free options such as Blender, and other programs that cost under $100. Take a look at the SL Wiki's page on 3d rendering programs for a list.I love a mask that a character wears in ____. Could you make it for me?

No. I won't recreate any intellectual property of any other artists, and that includes costume designers and concept artists who created that item. I prefer to make my own items or be inspired by the concept. The item I'm interested in is shown being worn by a member of the opposite sex. Will it fit my avatar?

For almost all items, the answer is yes. There are a select few that were made and fitted for a specific gendered avatar, and they will be labeled as "male", "female", or with an "X" in the unisex box. However, all of my items are moddable, so there's nothing stopping you from giving it a try.I'd like to model for you some time! Is there any way this could happen?

Sorry, but I rarely find any need for models. My skin addiction has me covered pretty well as far as variety goes. But, if you have the artistic bug, I'd love to see your avi wearing my things in pictures on the Illusions Flickr Stream.Are there giftcards available for your store?

Yes! I offer the Angel Card, which can easily have value added to it and be used to purchase my items at Carnivale.I would like to purchase some or one of your items with full permissions!I am adamantly against offering any item with full permissions. This is how I make my livelihood, and asking me to give up a piece of my heart and my time and every possibility of making profit from it is going to result in a very enthusiastic no. However, I'm more open to a commission for a similar item, in which case see #1.If you haven't found your answer here, feel free to send me an email at siyusuen@yahoo.com, or send me an IM in world!

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

I felt like foodling a bit and changed the header! Didja notice? Ain't it perdy?

I've been popping on a bit more, recently, the new Muse sim owned by the luscious Caliah Lyon opened and I got my butt over there since I remembered that, oh wait, she was going to give me a spot, and wouldn't it be nice if I was actually there. So I set up shop there. I've actually been opening a bunch of new stores... ok, three, but that's a bunch to me. I now have store locations at Muse, Le Zoo, and Glamworld.

I was thinking of doing something a bit fun with my location at Le Zoo, inspired by the hyperactive Ms Haver Cole, who was beyond jumping up and down happy to find out I have so many creature masks in my inventory. I don't actually have most of them out, since almost all of them were special commissions from Vanessa (whom I miss like Disco Stu misses the 70's), and they really don't sell very well. But, what the hell, people who are at Le Zoo surely must love animals, so I figure I'll take some snappies of the better masks, box em up and put them out as Le Zoo exclusives. Just a preview for the future :)

I've also come to a sad realization that I'm going to stop accepting commissions. It seems like everyone does that at some point, when a creator just realizes that with the time they have, they'd rather be making something they truly love that comes from their own brain. I reached that point a while ago, but didn't actually want to officially announce it, since some people give me some seriously awesome ideas in the forms of commissions. The coque feather coat was a random idea thrown at me, and today someone suggested an executioner's cowl. I realized recently that what I really wanted wasn't commissions, it was suggestions, so that I could pick and choose and morph them as I pleased. I hope you guys don't get too sad by this news, if you had hopes of a custom made mask, since I still will definitely be taking suggestions and as always I'll do small alterations and especially different colors on request.

Friday, December 14, 2007

There do come times where I realize that I'm on Second Life a very large percentage of my life, and that I have some weekends to catch up on! So I've been avoiding SL, answering IM's through email and in general taking a bit to clean up the apartment, do some dishes, fill the pantry and decorate for Christmas. Aaaaah the pause that refreshes. I've also been recharging the Siyumachine and taking some time for myself, so that there will/can be some new releases right before the 25th. I've also been toying with a holiday party, but currently my RL plans are too fluid to be able to solidly set a date! Would a New Years Eve party on the 29th or something be too early? Or too late for a holiday party? Oh why am I asking, I know you guys probably just want a party XD Whatever I do throw I hope will be a bit more informal, just festive and full of egg nog.

Leave a comment if you have an opinion about the party idea thinger :)

Sunday, December 9, 2007

There's currently a contest being done by the Ewing Fashion Agency and Onrez.com for us designers! And I was considering not submitting something, since I've been busy IRL, but I found myself inspired the other day and decided to make a hat for the Coque Feather Coat!

It's available in the main store, but since the judgment of the pieces is sales based and tallied on Onrez, it's a special Onrez.com vendor which didn't allow me to offer my usual option of copy or transfer. Don't worry, on January 15th when the voting period ends, I'll release the hat in my normal vendor with more options for colors to match the colored coats that I'm still working on. Just so you know, currently the hold up is that colors and white don't cover the multitude of "seam sins" that black does, so I have to be even more meticulous. I now know why Nicky Ree never does jacket layers! But anyhoo, if you buy them I get a prize XD

Saturday, December 8, 2007

Gosh! A while ago I was notified by the lovely Tanya Book that I had been nominated for the "Blogger's Choice Awards". It's new this year, with Second Life fashion bloggers choosing their favorite businesses for a set of categories and then opened voting for the public. I had a surprisingly large bunch of nominations, and I actually won a couple!! I have to admit I was a bit of a shoo-in for "Best Masks", but winning "Best Non-Jewelry Accessories" was a pleasant surprise! Not to mention being the first runner up in sculpted prims... (personally I think Fallingwater Cellardoor of Shiny Things deserved to be first) But anyway, see for yourself the results as they pertain to me... I'm very happy and very proud :)

Best Masks

Win: Illusions – Siyu Suen

Best NonJewelry Prim Accessories

Win: Illusions – Siyu Suen

Best Sculpty Prims

Runner Up: (1st) Illusions – Siyu Suen

Best Hats

Runner Up: (1st) Illusions – Siyu Suen

Best Fashion (Retail) Update Group

Runner Up:

(4th) Illusions – Siyu Suen

Most Congenial

Runner Up: (4th) Illusions – Siyu Suen

Best Texturing

Runner Up: (6th) Illusions – Siyu Suen

I actually laughed when I saw the "best update group", because I've consistently said that my update group absolutely kicked major patootie. Not because of the updates in them, but because of the people of course! The people in my update group almost never spam, always are fun to talk to, and love a good pajama or pirate party. I ♥ you guys, so it's fun to see you get an award through me XD

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

I've just released some new holiday freebies, including an adorable christmas kitty plushy! Inside the box you can find three holiday gift boxes for your gift giving purposes, a set of copiable, colorful ornaments, a yummy candy cane, and an even more delicious candy cane mask! This is actually the first ever anniversary of a holiday freebie for me, last Christmas I had a candy cane mask out too, but believe me it wasn't as nice as the one in here XD

Inside the stuffed kitty is another stuffed kitty (they're like matrushka dolls in that way), and that one you can wear and snuggle! It has a built in arm pose, so you can cuddle it ☺

Sunday, December 2, 2007

The other day I was finally able to celebrate Thanksgiving with my family, and so I've decked the Carnivale halls with snow and a Christmas tree and I feel I can finally release some holiday items!

Munchflower (of Nomine) is now making it a routine to IM me after she's completed some skins and say "want to make a matching hat?" which spurs me to make a whole darn set of items. (*coughharlequincough*). Her new skins, titled "Merry Jingly" are all holiday themed, and I picked my two favorites, "Candy Jane" and "Snowflake" to make matching hats and furry coats to. First came the hat:

It's non-flexi, but it is soft, and velvety, and sculpted. I tried to give it some real fullness but also make it look floppy, and I think I've succeeded quite well! I've passed this hat around to some friends, and they've all found ways to integrate it into their outfits. Also, even though I'm not Jewish I've always tried to be politically correct and not pretend they don't exist, so that's why the hat is also available in a soft blue. Plus it matched the coat.

It might be a little obvious that it's somewhat similar to my mid-length Coque Feather Coat, just with fur and no feathers. Well I'm taking baby steps as far as clothing design goes. I had all of the shading and work done for a coat, I just made it velvety and furry! It's fitted for a woman, but I avoided breast shading so that men can wear it as well if they fit the pieces to them. Originally this was only going to have the "Russian/20's diva fur hat", but I decided to include both the fur hat and the merry hat in both of the hat and coat sets.I feel very much like a sexy Santa when I wear the "Candy Jane" makeup (shown) with this outfit, plus some high sleek black boots. You don't need to necessarily bare all in order to have some holiday allure!

Finally, wearing that outfit, I realized I was missing something. Some holiday jewelry I could wear under that sumptuous and fluffy fur collar:

Holly is a rare berry in that it starts to bear fruit in late November, and normally all through even January. It gives a rare chance for wild animals and birds to have berries after other plants have long dropped theirs. Holly is actually the whole reason the traditional colors of Christmas are red and green, and its vivid rich contrast of colors make it a great decoration in your house or on your avatar. The leaves are rather prickly in real life, so I don't suggest you matching your digital self on that one.

I also feel like mentioning that Christmas was banned where I live from 1659 to 1681, just as a fun piece of trivia :D I'm glad that law didn't stick around!

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Wow... the coat has been having a very warm welcome over the past couple of days!! I've been feeling encouraged to make some modifications to it and maybe make some other, similar coats, especially for the season coming up... The largest clamoring for me has been to release the coat in the same colors as the wings (or at the very very least, white). There have also been consistent clamorings from at least one source (you know who you are -.^) for me to put out my elf ears with jewelry, but if I did that they'd only be in silver. Unless you were role playing elfin Mr T. I pidy da Orc!

I've been getting into the season now that it's officially shopping time for Christmas, and everyone's releasing santa hats was getting contagious... plus to add on to it Munchflower did it again. She HAD to ask me to make a hat for her holiday skins and suddenly... well I got carried away. I made a christmas hat and coat, and jewelry, but I'm going to tease you and not release it quite yet. I'm making matching jewelry and doing colors based on her skins, so I have to make sure everything's ready before I go and release anything not perfect. You can expect them within the next two days though. The reason I'm even mentioning it, is that I made myself a desktop image for myself, and wanted to share it with you guys. Not sure if you have a Second Life desktop image yet, and I know it's always more personal when it's your own avatar, but this one's awfully pretty! It looks best on a 1440X900 resolution, or at least the same ratio, worth a try anyway!

Monday, November 26, 2007

There are a limited amount of ways to be brave or adventurous in Second Life. You can't exactly go bungee jumping, skydiving is just a novelty, and it's simply impossible to die if you choose not to. In taking risks, the only stakes are your time and your reputation. I am proud to say that in this safe utopia, I have laid my time out in a gamble, and found a way to push past my comfort zone. I've just tread beyond into an area that has always terrified me, intimidated me, and frustrated me.

I've braved the template, imperfection, and hundreds of lindens in uploads in the process of actually making a piece of clothing. I had a dream, a vision, an inspiration that had to come to life, and it demanded that I pick up the tools I so dread, and brave the 5th circle of hell, which I've recently discovered is actually full of seam matching. So mayhap I'm a little overly proud to celebrate overcoming a personal obstacle with this:I'm ridiculously proud of it. I've been obsessing over it ever since Caliah Lyon planted the idea into my head, which was sometime in mid-October! She suggested a feather trimmed cloak, but when she said that a beautiful, sumptuous image arrived in my head of a soft, silky and fashionable feather trimmed winter coat that was dramatic and fabulous. The coat comes in two lengths of coat tail, so you can have a long, full length dress coat, or a shorter more casual calf length, but the long a-line flare is what I had initially dreamed of. I wanted an enormous soft collar that you could bury your face in, and yet at the same time show off an elegant necklace. Then of course I needed big yummy cuffs to balance it out. The collar actually turned out being 210 prims, which I tried my darndest to show restraint on, yet when I did it just didn't look the same. Ah, well that is true luxury isn't it! To compromise, I've included a low prim version of the collar as well, that has fewer feathers but will be much more friendly to your computer. (I say low prim, but it's still 83 prims ^^;, so I guess I mean lower). All in all, the effect is very striking, and I haven't taken it off yet. It's exactly what my avatar needed to avoid getting cold in the upcoming virtual winter.

Sadly, since I'm offering so many options, for my own protection I'm making this coat copy only. You might say "but it's just the prim pieces that there are options on! no one's going to give away/sell just the prim pieces", but not so! I've gone above and beyond the call of duty on this one, and answered the prayers of a certain niche of my customers. My dear rainbois and flamboyant, secure men, I have included a unisex version of the coat top, without breast shading, so that you too can be utterly fabulous and amazing. Of course you already are, but the coat helps to make it more obvious.

Saturday, November 24, 2007

Over here in America we like to celebrate a coming together of family and friends and the fall harvest, by gobbling down a gobbler and sleeping. American football is sometimes involved as well, but what it means to me is the arrival of the Christmas season, and a new computer for my fiance. So I no longer need to share mine, and I can get back to being on SL regularly! (If you were wondering, that is why I haven't been posting). I'm extremely grateful for so many things in my first life and my second, and in this case I can actually say thank you, to you folks reading this especially. By buying my items you're allowing me to keep doing what I love, stay in my apartment, eat, and continue making art for you. Without you, I wouldn't be here, and I'd probably be working at a local restaurant trying to make it on tips and wondering what I was doing with my life. So have a free pilgrim's hat :D (you can get it out of the notice from the 25th)

Someone brought up in group recently that the skull pieces still haven't been released. Obviously I know, and I've been thinking about how to handle them. Currently the big hold up is that I have done the sculpts, tweaked them, done most of the texture work, and then got completely and utterly hung up on one, stupid little seam. It's glaringly obvious to me, when I look at it, and it's been driving me utterly insane when I try to work on the skull that the texture just doesn't wrap properly at all. After spending hours on it, my drive got squelched by my desire to work on other things, and the skulls just got left behind. When I'm in the mood to be productive, I'm rarely in the mood to tackle that rat's nest of frustration.

What I have been working on is a fall inspired treat, that is unlike anything I've ever tried before. Based on my experience with it, it might herald more like it, but don't get your hopes too high up.

Monday, November 19, 2007

Ok so I feel a little silly, I thought Thanksgiving was next week, rather than this Thursday! So even some of us Americans aren't sure about when it is, haha. So unhappily for my apartment, it won't get that clean, but happily for you I'll still be hanging around SL.

Yesterday's pajama party was an absolute blast, and actually felt like an honest to goodness sleep-over. Even though I was having too much fun to do much organizing, I still did some and managed to swap away a lot of stuff and get some fun new things (bunny slippers ftw!).

We pulled out some games and played scrabble (and had chess as an option, but everyone was afraid to take on the champion).

We had a pillow fight and played "Truth or Truth" (since dares lose a lot of their potency in SL), and were ceremoniously mischievous with the first one to fall asleep:

(there's a person under there)

I made a kick ass blanket fort, which Candy professed she wanted to live in, and Selos demanded I make a bunch of tents. I think I'll leave it up for a bit because it actually makes you feel like a silly big kid, and even if it's not night like you're at a sleepover.

I just want to say thank you for everyone who came, you guys made it a total blast, and really made me want to have another one really soon XD I wasn't ready for it to end!

Thursday, November 15, 2007

The big to-do over here on Second Life has been WINDLIGHT! A company acquired by Linden Labs that was devoted to working on a more beautiful environment and realistic lighting has now had its technology integrated into another client (the Second Life program). It really is beautiful, but rather buggy. I crash often, and the water keeps dissapearing, but it's worth it.

The Indigo Rose definitely looks its best with a blazing pirate sunrise. In this viewer, you can even create your own environment settings and play with any spectrum of color you want. And I, being who I am, made myself my own dream world with my own damn colors. Er, color.

I'm so predictable sometimes.

In other news, with some of the sadness that's been permeating the grid (and myself to a degree) at the loss of a crucial member of the most talented fashion house on the grid, my creative mojo took a plane out to Seattle or something and I've been hooked on playing mahjong and Oblivion until it comes back from vacation.

My fiance also has just suffered a loss of his own computer, the hard drive died or some other odd illness, so I will probably be on less as I share my system for about two weeks. It's a great excuse for me to get the apartment clean, as it's been falling into a sad dusty state while I've worked hard to get masks, ears, wings etc out. Things need to be organized and thrown out, and it'll be really nice to get the apartment ready for company. I'll be back after Thanksgiving full swing for Christmas stuff... whatever that ends up being.

Sunday, November 11, 2007

My inventory is nearing the scary landmark amount of 40,000 items... and so the time has come to sit down for a good 8-10 hours and sort the sucker. But I'm not a glutton for punishment, and misery loves company... so heeeey pajama party inventory sort!

So throw on your most ridiculously comfy, inexcusably casual clothes, and shuffle in your bunny slippers over to the cherry orchard where I'm gonna be setting up a blanket fort and playing whatever music I feel like for however long it takes!

Make sure you bring some transferable items you don't wear anymore, who knows, you might find an awesome swap for it!

Today I did something I'd been putting off for ages. I've never had much motivation to do it, but today I had some connection issues and so...

I finally updated my Onrez.com listings.

Onrez.com => Slboutique.com => an out of world shopping tool folks can use when they're at work or on a grid down day. I have a very bad track record about keeping them updated, there are some designs that were still listed that have long since been stuck into my retired designs box. I sometimes make a project out of updating them (I did a while back on SLX), but slboutique/onrez has been neglected for a very long time.

I'm not done listing them, but I did delete every old mask, in fact everything from the old drop box, got a new one, and started over. So far there's not much in there, just the Seraphim, Civetta and Columbina and soon to be a couple others, but if you want to keep an eye on my onrez.com storefront here's the link :)

The old vendor is soon to be next... I have my finger on the delete button and it's giving me the eye -.^

Friday, November 9, 2007

The word revision doesn't just mean a do-over. Revising is going back and remembering what you really wanted to portray, and in art, can be literally seeing the vision of your piece again, and using what you've learned since that piece to give it a rebirth. The Phoenix mask was the first of the revisions that I plan for most of the ucky oldies.

The wings and feathers inspired the second:

Ring any bells? This is how I originally dreamed of the Arch Angel and Wedding masks. Maybe not blue, but I wanted to show off the beautiful range of colors that the mask is available in... that's right, I made them to match all of the different colors of the wings, with matching stones. The beautiful crest of ostrich feathers gives both an avian and divine feel. Perhaps not exactly the easiest mask to excuse while walking around and shopping (except in my case, I say, "who needs excuses?") it looks absolutely gorgeous with Nicky Ree's swan gowns, and will surely win you costume contests at any formal ball you grace with your elegant presence.

I have more planned... I feel like I'm waving a magic wand and turning wooden toys into real boys :P

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Aaaaahh the pause that refreshes!

It's very nice to goof off for a little, and take my equivalent of a weekend. I've been talking with friends and sorting my inventory a little and taking a nice fun break with Oblivion (yay! only just discovering how awesome spell casters can be o.o!). It's been good for me to stop saying "I have to ____" in my head and say "I feel like ___" instead. I'm already feeling more recharged.

I updated my stall in Limbo (the Isle of Wyrms), and played around with redesigning an old mask. The new version is absolutely beautiful, and I'm going to have it in multiple colors this time. I'll probably release it either today or tomorrow.

Sometime soon I'm going to go back to Deviant Kitties and do some detail work, like putting in the toad or putting in some "discoverable areas". I just got Pan's Labyrinth on DVD so I'm pretty sure that will correspond with as soon as I watch it. It's just such a dark movie I'm not sure when that will be.

I also have been putting some thought into a Secret Project. This project is secret because I'd rather be sure that it's going to happen, or have it a bit closer to when it will happen, than get your hopes up now (about 4 months before it's likely to happen). Confused? That's ok, I'm just covering my butt for when people say "where are the releases?!"

I also want to say thank you for all the kind words and compliments you've sent my way after hearing the interview with Daphne and Tamara. I had a hell of a lot of fun doing it (I think you can tell), and I can't tell you how happy it makes me to hear that you heard it, enjoyed it, and are sending me the luffs. Luffs turn into Makeyjuice which runs the Siyumachine, so with every compliment a mask gets made!

Thursday, November 1, 2007

Let me just say one thing about the month of October....

wow

I never realized when I started making masks and costume accessories that suddenly October would be such an awesome month for me. I've always loved Halloween, and I've always gotten excited for it as you can imagine. But SL Halloween snuck up on me, big time, and actually caught me at a bad time creating wise. Nevertheless, thanks to Second Style, Daphne and Tamara, suddenly Illusions became a Halloween mecca for all of the masquerade and costume parties springing up everywhere. Despite the fact that I never got the skull stuff out (sorry ^^;), and my last minute completion of large multi-month projects had absolutely nothing to do with Halloween specifically, you guys still chose my store and for that I really want to say thank you. I've been loving seeing the amazing pictures of your costumes on Flickr, and some costumes so distinctive that they've been springing up everywhere in people's streams. (*coughkhamudycough*)

Next year I'm definitely going to be more prepared, in fact, now I feel a bit like Halloweentown in Nightmare Before Christmas, because I'll be counting the days down 'till the next one! And drawing up charts with evil kitties on them and singing songs written by Danny Elfman. Wait, that's nothing new.

But yeah, next year I'll have an idea of what to expect, just so you guys know, I just experienced Christmas 2 months early!

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

So far one everyone's favorite angel wings are the black, the white, and the phoenix. Candy hasn't been able to change out of them (she has an amazing outfit to match), Selos has changed her color scheme around them, and even I, who normally shy away from warm colors and hues just had to wear them around in this weather to give me that extra feeling of body heat. So hell, if I'm going to be wearing these wings, and I have nothing to math, let's make something to match 'em.

A long long time ago, in a galaxy far away, little beginner mask maker Siyu made a phoenix mask. This was almost exactly a year ago, and since then people have admired and loved it, even though it was a relic from an early era of a lack of knowledge about root prims or symmetry. It was even blogged by the infamous Swirly Cyclone. It now rests in peace in the retired design freebie box.

But like all phoenixes, it ended up rising from the ashes:

After I did the pictures for this, I wandered around all day in this outfit. I felt stunning, and apparently I was, because I got some very flattering compliments. There's a demo available for this mask, because I've just decided to keep doing them for each new mask I put out. Hopefully it will make people feel safer about making a decision for their costumes.

I've decided now, after lots of questions about where I get the outfits modeled, to start doing a "Recreating the Look" for my vendor shots. I haven't done it before because it takes time, and frankly, folks just didn't ask so I didn't think they cared. But more folks have been asking so I guess you do care :)

Sunday, October 28, 2007

Back in May, when sculpties finally arrived, there were three things that I aspired to do, more than any other thing. The first was a full face mask, the Volto, which I was very happy to finally perfect not too long ago. The next was a simple mask form, the civetta and columbina, which was one of the very first things I made since I knew I'd be able to do it. Something I started, and worked on, and went through many drafts of, worked through mesh glitches and needing proper sculpt mirroring, went through draft upon draft of fit, size, shape, texture etc... were ears. I've already shown you a preview way back when, of the pixie ears, which hopefully whetted your appetite. One of the drafts made an appearance in a series of fairy pictures I posted on Flickr. But finally... these ears are now available to you.

There's been no modification of these pictures, even the Pixie ears, that's just how well they blend! They have textures which my friend and skinmeister Selos Dae went over with her mad highlighting skills. Together, we came up with a beautiful, silky smooth and seamless fleshy ear texture, that I could then change the hue of to match 9 natural skin tones and 9 Drow skin tones. Thanks to my extensive skin collection, I was able to provide a list of perfect or near perfect skin tone matches to both :)

For the Natural collection, (from lightest to darkest) these skin tones are:

There may be more that I'm unaware of, I can't say I researched every tone from every major skin designer. Yet these are the skin tones that I've bought or grabbed demos for and confirmed that they are an excellent if not perfect match. I'm also offering custom skin tone matching :) Grab a notecard in the store for more info, if you're interested!

What have you seen and been tantalized with on Flickr, what have I teased and dangled before you and said "oh, I'm working on that" and then continued on silently, without update and with your chewing off your fingers hoping against hope that maybe today, maybe this would be the day they could be yours!!

Save those fingers dear, no more waiting... for they are here.

The beautiful, the tantalizing, the absolutely grueling to make and yet absolutely stunning fully prim, sculpted angel wings. At 80 prims each (160 together), any poorer computer system might wince at all of the sculpties, yet slog though the spheres dutifully to get to the beauty underneath.

As I've mentioned so many times, not too long ago I commissioned feathers from Jen Shikami. I wanted beautiful alpha feathers, and maybe a couple of textures for random sculpt feathers that would be thrown in as backing, not really that important... She IM'd me after she had been working on them and said "you know, I think I like these better than the alphas". Not being able to believe her, I tried them myself and sure enough... they were beautiful. Making alpha flicker a thing of the past, these beautiful sculpted feathers could be worn with alpha heavy hair, layered together endlessly and most of all... form beautiful wings. These have been a long time coming, I've loved wings and tried making wings for a long time, and after I got the feather textures I had to make it real. Thanks to Miriel Enfield, these are available much sooner, as she gave me the use of a mirroring script. I've never before used any building aids, yet the rotations were so irregular I was desperate for help. Modifying Jen's beautiful textures brought forth dazzling colors (10 in all), and encouraging words from the people who saw them and wore them kept me going. And so here they are, finally, available to you. They're sold in color packs, starting at 450 for the black and white pairs (2 positions, 2 sizes), 550 for the three Phoenix colors, 850 for the five color pack, and 1500 for all of them. As the picture says, they aren't scripted, but they are incredibly unique, beautiful, and most of all, attention getting. I couldn't go anywhere in these wings without being asked about them, and after giving them to a friend or two, I started having to request that they not wear them, as I was starting to feel very pressured by all of the IM's by folks who had inspected the wings, come to my store, and found them not for sale.

These might not flap as you soar around, or fold in when you land, or flutter gently... but they will look close enough to real that you want to bury your face in them, pet the feathers, and feel soft tickles when your lover embraces you in them. Feathered wings should have weight, depth, and heft, and should look like they could carry you across the heavens. By that definition, they are everything they should be.

Go forth and be beautiful, angelic, fiery, dark, or however you wish to fly.

The Midnight Masquerade is over, and so I present you with the elegant and beautiful pair of Midnight Masks, Nacht and Nuit:

Both "nuit" (pronounced noo-ee) and "nacht" (nahkt) mean night, in French and German respectively. The Midnight Masquerade demanded an elegant, regal and commanding pair of masks for truly resplendant party-goers... with over 50 people having wanted to come to this party and having had 2 months to get ready, I had to have something worthy of them.

I'm very happy with Nacht as a male mask, and I think you guys out there will not be able to complain that I don't have any masculine masks. I finally have a proper male shape (thanks to Polly Pavlova) to fit Nacht to, however I'm not sure how it will fit with other male faces so I will be listening for feedback about him. The mask shape on this one has a more pronounced brow, as well as a larger nose, and should definitely have a much better fit than my other ones. It's stark, yet ornate, and stern yet romantic. I'm really proud and happy with how it turned out. But it's sadly overshadowed.

Oh with Nuit... where to begin. I'm having a love affair with this mask, but then again it makes me feel like Princess Amidala. But then it's so gorgeous. But then I can't wear it with too many hair styles... Such is the curse of the truly fabulous mask, hair choices become far slimmer, and so I suggest you have a rudimentary knowledge of modification when it comes to hair before you buy this mask. The detail and stunning effect of this mask is worth the work though, and it definitely as a powerful effect over one's avatar. If you'd like to try before you buy, that's actually possible, as I have demos out for these two beautiful masks, and I'm working towards having demos for more of them.

It really made me happy to make these, and with them and the beautiful feathers by Jen you can expect more, including hopefully some remakes of old classics, as well as just a new dazzling array of plumed masks. I'm really looking forward to them, especially now that I've just completed two very large projects.....

The masks were donned, the sun went down, and an array of dazzling and macabre costumes made their way across the bridge to the event hall, where music, dancing and a raffle ball awaited them! Black and white banners hung from the vaulted ceiling, and gentlemen offered their hands to join their ladies in an elegant waltz.

The party was, as you can guess, incredible. Elegant people, some who had been working on their costumes since the party was announced, great music, and the new, grand venue all came together to form a very memorable experience. In case some people have bad memories though, I also put out souvenirs! Jen Shikami of Seven's Selections donated very generously a beautiful pair of black and white wings, and I added a simple and elegant plumed mask to a giftbox that was set out. It was extremely difficult to pick a costume contest winner, since I wasn't exaggerating when I said the outfits were dazzling...Miriel Enfield in Silent Sparrow and the Raven mask...

In the end, Jaded Drake (who left a bit too quickly for me to nab a picture of him) and the gorgeous Caliah Lyon claimed the masks made especially for the masquerade. A matched set, Nacht and Nuit, which will be released shortly. Here is a teaser, with stunning Caliah in her winning outfit wearing the Nuit mask.

You can tell why she won O.o

Jen Shikami had fortune on her side, and was the winner of the 5000L raffle of entry fees. The party and sim were opened after midnight, to welcome the happy members of Masqueraderie who had been dying to get in. Or the ones who were just bored and up late.

The group was closed earlier today, with one last notice sent out thanking all who attended for a wonderful and enchanting night. And it certainly was :)

Friday, October 26, 2007

I swear, I really haven't abandoned you, especially on today, the day of my midnight masque. I've just been procrastinating posting, forcing myself to do things that are actually work and getting myself to make the pair of masks that will be the prizes for best dressed male and female. The female mask is absolutely gorgeous so far, incredibly regal and definitely fabulous in all senses of the word. The male mask is as of now, non-existent, so I know what I'll be doing a couple hours before the party! o.o

I'm really looking forward to it, it's sure to be sim-crashingly fun, the guest list has been full for weeks, and my guess is that there will be many people up past their bedtime.

In other non-party news, I did another interview (zomg another interview! I feel so famous!!) with Daphne and Tamara of "Going Broke with Daphne and Tamara" and this one is actually a voice podcast that we recorded on skype ^.^ So you can hear my melodious and overly emotive voice as I babble away like a hyperactive monkey on Red Bull.

It was an awful lot of fun, and I was completely tickled pink and giggly to talk to them, I think you can tell that we weren't bored by the periodic peals of laughter XD

In the entry, it says that I'm going to be making clothing soon... don't trust that too much ^^; clothing as in the "wearing it on your avi, covering yourself up" definition, yes. But clothing layers and traditional, normal, wear it on your skin clothing? God no and not in this decade. But I have been toying with ideas for fully prim outer wear and sort of "fabric accessories", so it's a bit more of an enhancement of the truth. Definitely not much is happening until I get out of my wiggly worm mentality*.

I'm just going to apologize, I know you guys probably mind too much but I do, for not posting as often as normal. I've felt guilty for not having a release for you guys, when I'm so close to having several, I keep feeling that I can surely put the entry off just one more day until ___ is done. I also have a tendency to escape from SL if it starts to overwhelm me, which hasn't exactly been helping my workload. So, sorry for being such a naughty procrastinator, I try to not to let it happen when it's something I really love and care about.

*Wiggly worm mentality meaning here that I try to do anything at all except work on what I'm supposed to. A classic form of procrastination, sometimes I can be extremely productive and efficient and achieve a lot during this mindset... just never what I was supposed to achieve.

Saturday, October 20, 2007

You just never realize how tired and drained you are from something until it's over, and you're asleep. There was a lot of cleaning to do around my apartment after I finished the sim, and my eyes have been hurting with some sinus congestion going on, so rather than get sick I decided to do some sleeping! However, I did manage to get on to continue working on the wings, and I've finished them spread and folded, sized for women. I also did colors as well, some basics and then some really kick ass gradients that I think will be really popular. I still need to size them for men, but at this point that's all I need to do before I release them. Not too much longer now!

Gah, I know the skulls were supposed to be released by now, I'm having some serious trouble getting the texture to wrap properly, and I haven't just dug in my heels and worked it through. I'll tell you what, if I can't manage to get them out the week before halloween, I'll put the hell set out for free and make eeeveryone happy :D But that's no reason to try and will me not to finish them :P

I did a really fun voice interview with Daphne Abernathy and Tamara Kirshner of "Going Broke with Daphne and Tamara". They're releasing it as a podcast, but you can hear an .mp3 when it's all done. They said probably next week. It was really great to just chat to them afterwards, we talked about really random fashion things and I got to hear a reaction to my giving surprises to someone for once!

Caliah Lyon also got me thinking about something so deliciously couture I don't want to jinx it by mentioning it here. *zips lip*

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

On Sunday, Kriket Pimpernel and I both shared our one year Second Life anniversaries! Happy Rezday to us! I threw a fabulous purple party last minute on the purple pirate ship the Indigo Rose.

Folks came and wore purple to celebrate, on clothes and as skin o.o! But since it was Kriket's rezday too, blue was allowed since that's her color. I suppose sharing a rezday makes us slisters! The cake was chocolate, and was oh so delicious and moist.

An incredible amount of things have changed this year for me, my career plans, my lifestyle, my drive and most especially my self esteem. I feel more confident, talented, and in control of my life than I ever have been, and I can thank the people that I've met and the customers who have appreciated my work for all of it. I can't believe I'm making a living now doing something I love this much.

The Deviant Kitties sim is open, and so I've been officially taking a bit of a break as I recuperate. I've been catching up on shopping, and it was really nice to do a bit of dj'ing and inventory sorting and SOCIALIZING (zomg talking to people) after my self imposed hermit-ness over working on the sim. There have been rave reviews, and Hely is still getting compliments on it, which make me giggle and be happy. As I like to say, lovin' creates the Makeyjuice that keeps the Siyumachine running. The wings are coming along well, and so are those ears I mentioned a while ago (remember those?) The skull has been driving me crazy, I can't get the textures to wrap properly so i need to give it a rest.

So much done in one year... and yet so much left to do!! Here's to one year, and may it be the first of many.

Saturday, October 13, 2007

After four days of work, the sim is for all intents and purposes done. The build is in place, things are all together, and if it opens tomorrow there will be nothing to be ashamed of. There are always more things to do though, those little things that make it feel lived in and those little spots that can be enhanced to be enchanting, or perfect photo opportunities.

Since the sim is complete, and since you are my beloved blog readers, you get a sneak peek at the new Deviant Kitties sim build.

Shots from the Labyrinth:Pretty much all of the store area is actually underground, the hair being in an enormous cavern under the labyrinth and the skins down a tunnel in the center of the great tree. TRAP and D3volution are in the Spanish country house, and while the Pale Man's hall way isn't around yet, I've started working on it and creating textures, and there's more tunnels being dug. It's one of those unnecessary detail works that I enjoy so much, that we didn't find an actual use for. But after not being home in Carnivale for 4 days, I miss my flamenco music and my windchimes, and my golden stone buildings and pirate ship. But I'll be back, since I don't think I'll be able to stay away from this place...

Friday, October 12, 2007

Update on the sim building... last night it was so late and I was pretty drained so I just crashed o.o But, I'd like to proudly say that had I made a big push to finish tonight I would have been able to finish the whole darn thing in just three days, which is an enormous bragging right. However, Hely's just told me she herself won't be ready till probably Saturday, so.... I have a whole other day.

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

I was puttering along, working on the new wings, doing pretty things to them and making them better, and I was talking to Helyanwe Vindaloo of Deviant Kitties while I was at it. It turns out another part of the delay from her sim going back up was that the person she had hired to build it had up and quit, and when she tried hiring someone else they were going to charge her $2000 USD for it. Now I don't know how much a normal sim scaping is, but $2000USD is a hell of a lot of money. Hely was going to reluctantly continue on with her grungey city theme... but she dreamt of a dark fantasy land inspired by Pan's Labyrinth.

Ok, cutting to the chase...

I'm going to be very, very busy over the next two days. I probably will only answer emergency IM's or failed deliveries, and I'm afraid you'll have to wait longer for the wings. I'm building and simscaping the Deviant Kitties sim and damn... it's going to be beautiful. I've accomplished quite a lot on just this, the first day, and I'm only now heading to bed at 8am EST. Kriket, Candy and Selos have been keeping the Siyumachine stoked with Makeyjuice through their ever so inspiring flattery, suggestions and moral support, but there's only so long you can stoke the engine before it just dies and needs to be restarted.

So, that being said, good night :) More details and even possibly pictures tomorrow ^_^

Monday, October 8, 2007

I'm bouncing off of the walls right now, because Second Style just published their new issue. Why am I bouncing off the walls about this, aside from the squee-dom of having delicious costume ideas, new designer finds and fashion yumminess? Cause I'm IN IT!!!!

Iris Ophelia interviewed me not too long ago, and she took pretty pictures of me, and now it's all published in issue 12!! I even have a bunch of mentions of halloween maskyness!

Now you can go and read the issue and find out about how I came to SL and what makes me tick :D

Sunday, October 7, 2007

Aaand I'm back :) I've been back more and more but I believe I can say it officially now, the jonesing for Oblivion has ebbed and I can back to my normal (second) life now.

Yesterday I released a hat that caused a sensation amongst the ladies in Fashion Consolidated, a hat I named after the "unsinkable" Molly Brown.

Molly Brown (or Margaret Tobin) is perhaps one of the most well known survivors of the infamous Titanic. Her story was incredibly inspirational for women at the turn of the 20th century, as she kept a cool head in the disaster, calmed her fellow passengers, and even demanded that the women aboard her lifeboat were allowed to row as well as the men. She was a suffragette, an activist, and a philanthropist, and she used her fame from her survival to make great strides toward women's rights and raising money for the families of those who didn't make it.

When I first made this hat, I was going to call it a Mae West hat, because it was sassy and bold... yet it was much more classic Edwardian than 1920's saloon. So I asked Miriel for help naming it, and she gave me gold: Molly Brown!! It's the perfect name... a traditional Edwardian hat with boldness, flare and personality, for a lady who had the same. The hat's available in rich purple, bold red, pure white or soft mauve, and seems to go with pretty much anything you care to wear. Some of my friends who ended up with it were saying that it was Harajuku, gothic, French modern or what have you!

There is actually a demo available for this hat, which is something I'm going to start implementing for my more three-dimensional pieces. So there is now a demo for Gracile, and there will be a demo soon for Eliza's. All of these are pieces that really need to be seen "in the round", and pictures can only capture one or two sides.

Speaking of things that look best from all angles... I've been working on a secret project recently, something I've kept on the low down until my friend Iris got inspired and had to shoot a "teasers".... and then of course her pictures are just too gorgeous to NOT share with the entire world.

Tuesday, October 2, 2007

I've been out for a couple of days, because after the sim scare and the whole flowers thing, plus pressure I was putting on myself to get things out for October and Halloween, I realized I needed a break. When Second Life starts actually feeling like work, it's time for Siyu to take a breather. I've been answering offline IM's, and I've poked my head in for some work to do when inspired, but most of what I've been doing is recharging. I've been cleaning up the ol' apartment, and doing some adventuring elsewheres. I'm well aware I'm picking an odd time to do it, but I know I'll be back pretty quick... Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is awfully fun but I can't exactly make my own armor for my character!

Friday, September 28, 2007

The question came up recently as to why I am not included in the incredibly popular and very time-saving syndicate blog Fashion World of SL. Most bloggers who are members get a lot of traffic, because it gathers up the myriad designer and fashionista blogs all into one convenient location, so there's no need to open up 25 browser tabs, or get yourself an RSS reader just to make it through your blog roll. Well, there's a very simple answer why... Because I can't select which entries go through. For your own fashionable sake I have not unleashed the torrent upon the populous that would be my daily words! I update every day, and it'd practically become My Blog: The Return, with a bigger budget, more interludes and guest stars.

But... what I do say might be nice for you guys to know, because you enjoy my blathering and the little tidbits of news that might spring up and effect you and the speed with which you can get your hot little hands on the Pretties. Since you guys know you like reading my babble, I will keep writing it :)

A couple months back, I divulged in a couple of friends that I had a couple of dreams, a couple of aspirations.. a short list of landmarks that I wanted to reach as a Second Life content creator. These were things that I thought really put you on the map, showed you were a serious professional and put you into the mainstream of the fashion savvy, even if you catered to a niche as I do.

Here are the landmarks I felt at the time I needed to reach for, work towards, and aspire to, in ascending order:

1) Get Blogged - Absolutely number one, because it's the first one I needed to be introduced to the fashion world and get my name out there. I submitted my items tenaciously to Linden Lifestyles. Like most designers, I've come an incredibly long way from the items that were featured in that review, but if it weren't for them, I wouldn't have gotten the sort of encouragement I needed to actually start taking my business seriously. Getting blogged put my store on the map, even if it was only a street name and not a city.

2) Get Interviewed - I told my good friends that this in particular was something that I really wanted... I don't know, maybe it was my chance to pretend I was on The Tonight Show, or maybe fill out a survey that people would actually read the answers to. I just absolutely adore answering questions, doesn't necessarily matter what they're about, but it's just an enormous bonus if they're about something I love, like my work. I talk about my work endlessly to anyone that will listen... as... er... you well know.

The wonderful and ever encouraging Queenie Extraordinaire can say she was the first one to ever interview me; I'll be featured in the next issue of the Metaverse Messenger! Queenie, from way back, has always slipped my items into her blogging in a most flatteringly casual way, so that even when I felt like a very teeny fish in a big pond of publicity she would make me feel a bit more like a salmon.

3) Have a major, Non-Friend Designer Feature your Design in a Product Shot - Ok yes this one sounds a little bit too specific, and maybe something only I would want from all the things I could have. But I would be out shopping, like ya do, and there would be these pieces of jewelry that would just appear again and again in vendor pictures. A certain hat, or a hairstyle, that would circulate around the designers and fashion community. I wanted one of those items to be mine. I think like calls to like, and I have ended up being lucky enough to have a large percentage of my friends be fellow content creators... so having a designer whose work I adore and who isn't a close friend has become a rarity! A lot of these friends and I have a sort of free exchange, where we trade items, bounce ideas off of each other, give critiques and also end up using these items quite a bit in our vendor shots. This is why my dear beloved Munchflower didn't count for this, we're just too cuddly XD

So when Nicky Ree nabbed Gracile, and featured it in her absolutely perfectly synchronized release of her Swan Dream gowns, I had finally reached a goal that I had been quietly dreaming of for months. Nicky Ree is one of my all time favorite clothing designers, and I think she is definitely the designer of formal wear on Second Life... and while we've met we've just never really clicked into the "omg, you're awesome, flisted/IMolested" mindset. Being told that she was using my hat for her pictures was like... "oh gosh it's finally happened".

So you see? Dreams can come true ♥ ☺4) Get Featured in Second Style - ......>.>

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

After speaking to the seller, and finding out that he was actually acting on behalf of Vanessa, I told him how important it was to me that Carnivale be the island that remained, and that it greatly effected my personal and financial well being. Today when I checked back on the auction (it's gone up to $202 from $5), a question was asked, and answered:

Q:

Hello, can you tell me the names of the 5 sims, since the list there has more than 5 names? Many thanks (:

A:

All Islands except Carnivale are up for sale and all islands can be moved and renamed (for 100 US with Linden)

I told the seller (the person acting on her behalf) that I wouldn't bother him with emails anymore... but gosh, if he's reading this, I just want to say:

THANK YOU

Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you. I know that he didn't actually have to, and that the sale could have continued, and I would have done my best to negotiate with the buyer or buy and sell the 4 sims myself. But I am just so grateful that he saw fit to let me keep my home.

This is a very grateful post... There was an absolute outpouring of love and support from you guys. When I logged on and was absolutely freaking out and panicking, you, my friends, were there with IM's offering me help and places to stay. Helyanwe offered me the use of her own home for the Masque, and Munchflower Zaius offered me a place on Nomine, and not to mention the people who were willing and ready to help me raise the money to save Carnivale. I feel incredibly lucky, loved, and humbled that I have such wonderful and generous friends... and I really want to say thank you. Just because I won't have need of your generousity doesn't mean that I don't greatly appreciate your offers of support. I can't believe that some people don't have faith in humanity... they obviously haven't met you.

Before I got that disturbing news below, I was about to blog my brand new witch's hats and halloween jewelry! It was about time some really nice quality sculpted witch's hats hit the market. I've named all of my hats after famous witches :)

I've been cackling and wearing this outfit around, and singing my own theme music to myself "dundunnananana, dunananana, duna! duna!" This one is pure fun, a tall, elegant witch's hat for absolutely anyone, and it's utterly timeless. Elphaba was the name that the author Gregory Maguire gave the Wicked Witch of the West from The Wizard of Oz. It has a fun oversized brim and a very tall crown, and it's actually pretty historically accurate. It has a simple buckle that comes in silver or gold, with a hat band that comes in black, or white for tinting. But, for the modern witch who might not be into the deep and dark or cauldrons of newts, you might want to try this one:

Kiki was made in the tradition of adorable gothloli witches and their cute poofy dresses. This hat definitely says "I'm a witch by trade, but who says I can't be friendly?" The character of Kiki in Kiki's delivery service was a sweet, hard working and dedicated young witch, and while she didn't actually wear a witch's hat, I gave her one with a big fabulous bow on the back like the one she always wore on her head.

I also wanted to honor one of my very favorite witches, whom I've been a big fan of ever since I first read the first Harry Potter book: Minerva McGonagall.

Minerva to me, is a traditionalist with a bit of flair, she's conservative yet she's playful. I spruced up this fabulously floppy hat with a fan of cock feathers and a hat pin, which I created just for this hat. As you can see, it's adorable and perfect for halloween, and perfect for Minerva, who can turn into a cat! But.. once I'd made the pin, I realized I loved it too much to just keep it only to a pin on a hat... why don't I make matching jewelry?

I love this set, and I just wish that I could have Halloween jewelry as classy as this in real life, but nooo it's all flashing pumpkin heads and light up ghosts. The brooms especially are absolutely adorable, and make great earrings; they're a lot primmier than they need to be, but hey, I figured I'd splurge. I love the jewelry and the hat together, and you can match them to any outfit since they're both available in 5 metals (gold, copper, sterling, antiqued and tarnished).

It may seem early to some, but Halloween is even more fun in Second Life, since you really can dress up as ANYTHING! And I for one am really excited about it ^_^

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

I was going to blog some new hats that I released last night, but I've just received the fright of my Second Life.

Someone was kind enough to send me an IM, asking me if it was true that Carnivale was for sale.

.....

Apparently, right now, Carnivale, and the block of sims its a part of are all listed for sale on Ebay. A scam of course? There's a screenshot from Vanessa Noarlunga's account.

I'm absolutely terrified. I'm not sure if the fact that that I own the parcel will count for anything, but I also know that if I end up homeless, I can get new land, I can move. I love my home, and I love that I've been able to spread out and be a complete prim whore, but I also know that I can very easily do with less and I can rebuild somewhere else. What I'm most afraid of, is that Vanessa's account is being stolen without her even knowing, and at a time when she doesn't need any more stresses in her life. I'm scared that I don't have any way to warn her, that the money that she's invested and the time she's spent in Second Life is about to be completely gone. I'm especially scared that because of this, I might never see my friend again.

EDIT: I've since found out from someone speaking on her behalf that the sale is legitimate. The sims are being sold, and the seller was instructed to sell five of the six sims. My guess is that Vanessa intended for Carnivale to be the one that was left alone, but instead it's included in the block. I've tried letting the seller know, but I'm not sure if he will change the listing.

I'll be working on emergency plans, in case of a sudden change of venue for both Illusions and the Midnight Masquerade.

After having a talk with Munchflower, she's told me that in case I do suddenly end up homeless I have a spot on Nomine with her until I find my own land. She says her prim limits are at my disposal and that I can set up a venue for the Midnight Masque there if I need to. Needless to say, if you find Munch suddenly selling a couple of items that have sculpted prims, you know where they came from.

I realize that sometimes I just assume that everyone knows the wonderful story of how I got an entire sim to my onesies when I cater to a particular niche, and use all of my SL income towards my real life rent. Once upon a time, there was a little mask maker. I had just got my first land, put my store up, and started out seriously making masks and selling for a business sometime in December. I had been making them for about two months, and I had a modest collection that I was extremely proud of. I was used to a purchase here or there, a little ca-ching of lindens from someone who had wandered into my shop to buy for a masquerade, and I made maybe two thousand lindens a day. One day, I suddenly got a ca-ching... and another, and another, and another. I was getting paid over and over again as a lady named Vanessa Noarlunga bought every single thing in my shop. I IM'd her, absolutely delighted, and she told me that she had an extensive collection of masks in real life, and that she was so very happy to find someone taking mask making seriously. Soon after that, we became best friends, and she asked me to do commissions for her and paid me extremely generously. She told me that she was very wealthy in her first life, and worked in Hollywood as a production designer. She said she would love to buy a sim, and rent out half of it to me in exchange for masks and all other inventory that I created. Obviously, that arrangement was just out of this world amazing, and I couldn't believe it, and I was absolutely delighted. For a while I shared the sim with some of her friends who were a part of a Star Trek role playing community, and then she bought them their own. After that, the other half of the sim was abandoned, and she said that the island would be mine but Vanessa never officially gave the parcel to me. She disappeared for a while, and I sent her an email asking where she was, and that people were worried about her. An assistant of hers told me that she was in Europe, and that her daughter had been involved in a fatal accident. Since then, I've only been able to hope that she recovers with the help of her parents, and know that she has more friends than she knows.

So that's the story, I will be bidding on the block of sims if and when I can, and my mother says that she will donate funds to help me if. The auction has five days to go, and I really don't know what sort of numbers I'll be competing with for five sims... I do know that if I end up with the block of them, I actually probably could recover a bit with terraforming them and selling them. I'm also hoping that I might be able to deal with whoever does buy them, if not me, and possibly buy just Carnivale from them.

Not too long ago, I took a quick break from SL to take a trip down to the local Renaissance Faire to have some fun shopping and being all dressed up. I had a plan to ask an artist there whose work I quite admired her permission to render one of her designs in Second Life. It was a design that had captivated me with it's incredible grace, wonderful character, and just pure Fabulousness, and I longed to make my own interpretation of it.

This artist's name is Bonnie Trivizas, of "Fowl Play", a featherworks shop in which she sells beautiful hat pins, fans, and of course, her notorious, and infamous... Swan Hat:

Wearing a hat like this changes the way you walk. It gets you noticed, it makes heads turn, but most of all it makes you into a completely different person. The spirit of the hat takes over, and if you were the sort of person who sits on the curb and eats a cheeseburger, you suddenly become the sort of person who wears white lace gloves and takes tea at Fortnam and Mason's.

When I asked Bonnie, (who is most amiable and wonderfully whimsical), she couldn't believe that I thought that her hat would sell. "God, of course!" I told her, "It's FABULOUS!". I think part of her still didn't believe me, so I especially am asking everyone who wears it to take pictures of yourself, and post it in the *~*Illusions*~* pool on Flickr. I'll be sending the links to Bonnie so she can see people enjoying having a swan on their head! And not only that...

If you love this hat enough in Second Life... you can have it in your first, and for a very modest price at that for the work that goes into it. If you're interested and have a bit of spare cash, you can IM Bonnie yourself at bonnie@fowl-play.biz. She doesn't have her website yet, but she's an absolute peach and a pleasure to talk to!

Now... this hat was full of collaborations, not just with Bonnie but also with Jen Shikami of Seven's Selections, who has the most incredible wings... but she also was able to do commisioned feather textures for me. Not only did she make me a beautiful collection of flawlessly alpha'd feathers... she also did UV wrapped textures for my sculpted feathers, which is what allowed me to layer my feathers without any alpha flicker worries at all. She did incredible work, and now I can finally, truly, use feathers in my work. The entire reason I hadn't touched the wonderful world of plumage was a lack of perfect textures. Now that I have them... it opens so many doors.

Gracile turned out so beautifully, that it was blogged before it was actually released. Celebrity Trollop beat me to the punch when I made the "mistake" of sharing it with her in a fit of happy, giddy excitement when I was taking pictures. Her response was very flattering, and in her wonderful bubbly way she evilly coerced me into giving her everything I'm working on right now XD That witchy woman!! And witchy indeed as you'll see from the post! And you can thank her for the fact that I'm pushing up the release of some Halloween yummies quite radically :)

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What is Second Life?

Second Life is an online community set in a 3D, game-like environment. It allows everyone to create content, from clothing to buildings, whatever you can imagine. It's a versatile medium for artists, and a place to meet people and form communities. There are any number of places to explore, games to play, and things to be.